Has Google finally fixed online shopping?

Until now, Google hasn't been a great shopping destination. If you search for a product—like, for instance, a tie-dyed t-shirt—the results tended to come from big, established brands like Gap and Lululemon. But that's about to change. Google's goal is to create a digital version of bustling shopping streets, where big box brands sit next to fun local businesses. That's why it's allowing small and mid-sized brands powered by Shopify to publish their inventory on Google for free. So you'll soon be able to find tie-dye shirts from cool indie makers or a minority-owned shop in your neighborhood. Read all about the big change here. — Liz Segran   Has Google finally fixed online shopping? With an expanded Shopify partnership, Google makes it easier to discover billions of new products from smaller brands.   READ MORE   The ultimate COVID-19 artifact? These ‘travel’ postcards of all the video games you played In the words of Princess Peach, ‘Let’s go!’   READ MORE   The controversial history of colorizing black-and-white photographs The use of algorithms to alter color in photographs has provoked renewed anxiety about the authenticity of photography in the digital era.   READ MORE   Ford and Newlab partner to test new transportation ideas, from robot delivery to EV ride shares The initiative, called Accessible Streets Studio, is piloting solutions to Detroit’s underdeveloped transportation networks.   READ MORE   After a year of ‘Zoom poisoning,’ will we ever love chatting online again? We’ve been trapped in the same chat interfaces for years. Is Clubhouse the paradigm shift we need?   READ MORE

See the ghostly remains of a failed techno-utopia These secret cities of the former Soviet Union point to a “perfect technocratic future that never happened.”   READ MORE

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